* DropInCharacter: Shirley. She just occasionally shows up at the Wilsons' house, with no explanation for who she is and why she's there, much to the bewilderment of Joel and the 'Bots, who call her a GreekChorus. She flirts with Jimmy's father, giving the impression she might be a mistress, but even the full version of the movie leaves her role largely unexplained.

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* DropInCharacter: Shirley. She just occasionally shows up at the Wilsons' house, with no explanation for who she is and why she's there, to the point of walking in the front door without knocking, much to the bewilderment of Joel and the 'Bots, who call her a GreekChorus. She flirts with Jimmy's father, giving the impression she might be a mistress, but even the full version of the movie leaves her role largely unexplained.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The ending seemingly implies that Jimmy is ruled innocent of manslaughter on the grounds that his parents weren't very nice to him. Presumably this is just the result of sloppy writing, and the actual intention was that Jimmy's account gave the judge enough evidence to conclude that Blake's death was an act of justifiable self-defense... although even that's shaky at best, considering the fight would never have happened to begin with if Jimmy hadn't needlessly confronted him.

* CluelessAesop: Teaching parents to pay more attention to their kids than their booze? Not a bad idea. Teaching them to do so by showing a young man time and again making completely stupid decisions to the point where he goes on the run from the mob and gets charged for manslaughter...''despite none of that having anything to do with his drunk parents?'' Sure, maybe if they'd paid more attention to him, he might not have gotten away with all those choices, but Jimmy makes so many stupid decisions that it's hard to believe bad parenting alone was the problem.

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* CluelessAesop: CluelessAesop:** Teaching parents to pay more attention to their kids than their booze? Not a bad idea. Teaching them to do so by showing a young man time and again making completely stupid decisions to the point where he goes on the run from the mob and gets charged for manslaughter...''despite none of that having anything to do with his drunk parents?'' Sure, maybe if they'd paid more attention to him, he might not have gotten away with all those choices, but Jimmy makes so many stupid decisions that it's hard to believe bad parenting alone was the problem.

* IdiotBall: The last act of the film wouldn't have happened if he'd just gone to the police earlier, as they'd likely be glad to trade immunity for a low-grade courier in exchange for testimony to put two high-level mob members who'd just committed murder away and possibly get their boss as well. Also, the fight in which Jimmy accidentally killed Blake wouldn't have happened if he'd just stayed away and let the police do their jobs instead of confronting him personally. Most of Jimmy's mistakes are the result of being oblivious to what's actually going on, these are just simple stupidity.

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* IdiotBall: The last act of the film wouldn't have happened if he'd Jimmy had just gone to the police earlier, as they'd likely be glad to trade immunity for a low-grade courier in exchange for testimony to put two high-level mob members who'd just committed murder away and possibly get their boss as well. Also, the fight in which Jimmy accidentally killed Blake wouldn't have happened if he'd just stayed away and let the police do their jobs instead of confronting him personally. Most of Jimmy's mistakes are the result of being oblivious to what's actually going on, these are just simple stupidity.

** The dedication at the end says that the movie was made to entertain the YanksWithTanks overseas (it was 1944). Let's see: a film where a kid goes completely off the rails due to his parent's absence is shown to a large group of young forced-to-be-absent fathers, some of whom might never come home. Brilliant!

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** The dedication at the end says that the movie was made to entertain the YanksWithTanks UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks overseas (it was 1944).[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 1944]]). Let's see: a film where a kid goes completely off the rails due to his parent's absence is shown to a large group of young forced-to-be-absent fathers, some of whom might never come home. Brilliant!

* BrokenAesop: No one in the film cares that Jimmy is a 16-year-old high school student who drinks, and even admits he's been "hitting the stuff kinda hard lately." (Some states did have a drinking age of 18 in the 1940s, but it's still odd that he has no problem ordering numerous cocktails at a nightclub.)* CluelessAesop: Teaching parents to pay more attention to their kids than their booze? Not a bad idea. Teaching them to do so by showing a young man time and again making completely stupid decisions to the point where he goes on the run from the mob and gets charged for manslaughter...''despite none of that having to do with his drunk parents?'' Sure, maybe if they'd paid more attention to him, he might not have gotten away with all those choices, but Jimmy makes so many stupid decisions that it's hard to believe bad parenting alone was the problem.

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* BrokenAesop: BrokenAesop: ** No one in the film cares that Jimmy is a 16-year-old high school student who drinks, and even admits he's been "hitting the stuff kinda hard lately." (Some states did have a drinking age of 18 in the 1940s, but it's still odd that he has no problem ordering numerous cocktails at a nightclub.)** After getting off of his crimes with only probation, Jimmy is remanded into the custody of his parents despite the whole point of the movie being the fact that his parents were too busy seeking their own pleasures or arguing with each other to raise him.* CluelessAesop: Teaching parents to pay more attention to their kids than their booze? Not a bad idea. Teaching them to do so by showing a young man time and again making completely stupid decisions to the point where he goes on the run from the mob and gets charged for manslaughter...''despite none of that having anything to do with his drunk parents?'' Sure, maybe if they'd paid more attention to him, he might not have gotten away with all those choices, but Jimmy makes so many stupid decisions that it's hard to believe bad parenting alone was the problem.

* IdiotBall: The last act of the film wouldn't have happened if he'd just gone to the police earlier, as they'd likely be glad to trade immunity for a low-grade courier in exchange for testimony to put two high-level mob members who'd just committed murder away and possibly get their boss as well. Also, the fight in which Jimmy accidentally killed Blake wouldn't have happened if he'd just stayed away and let the police do their jobs instead of confronting him personally. Most of Jimmy's mistakes are the result of being oblivious to what's actually going on, these are just simple stupidity.

* ShockinglyExpensiveBill: Jimmy gets served one when he's at the restaurant. Luckily for him, Blake agrees to let Jimmy pay him back while he works for him.

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* ShockinglyExpensiveBill: Jimmy gets served one when he's at the restaurant.restaurant (equal to three week's salary at his day job). Luckily for him, Blake agrees to let Jimmy pay him back while he works for him.

* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: Kitty breaks up with Jimmy to try and protect him from Blake.

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* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: Kitty cruelly breaks up with Jimmy to try and protect him from Blake.Blake... who is hiding in the closet in the same room. She never actually lets Jimmy know about this fact despite numerous opportunities to do so.

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